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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29356083">The impossible</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomwarn/pseuds/Randomwarn'>Randomwarn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternative Perspective, Friendship, Hurt, Hurt Jesper Fahey, Jesper Fahey-centric, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:36:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29356083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomwarn/pseuds/Randomwarn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Jesper hadn't come out of the fight with the Shu soldier as easily as he did in ch. 36 of Crooked Kingdom?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jesper Fahey &amp; Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey/Inej Ghafa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The impossible</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A hand seized the back of his collar and pulled him back. He fell on the chappel floor hard, the wind completely knocked out of him. The Shu soldier that attacked them outside the White Rose was staring down at him. Fuck, this was bad. His hands instinctively went to where his revolvers usually were, but there was nothing there. Stupid uniform, and stupid him from not having taken the gun from the guard. Not that bullets had any effect on this being when they met him in the square, but it would have been a comfort to have a weapon of any kind.</p><p>The giant man lunged for him, but Jesper was quick on his feet and avoided the trap. Still trying to catch his breath, he got up on his feet, turned around and started running back to the main hall. It was not the cleverest idea, and he would have a lot of explaining to do, but at least he would still be alive to do the explaining. <br/>After just a few steps, however, he felt the man colliding into him and he hit the ground hard. What the fuck was this guy made out of? But before he could answer his own question, he felt himself being dragged by his legs back into the corridor. He tried to stay calm, and when his attacker grabbed him by his shoulders to turn him around, he slipped from his grasp and was back up on his feet. The success didn’t last long, as the man lifted him by his shoulders and threw him into the wall behind him. Jesper let out a cry of pain as he felt what could only be ribs breaking from the impact. Luckily he managed to collect himself enough to barely dodge the incoming fist of his attacker, which collided with the wall instead, making a dent in the concrete. <br/>What the fuck was Jesper up against? This was madness, he would never be able to win against this guy. The next punch came on the other side of his body, but this time it was directed to his chest. Jesper managed to move out of the way, but not entirely, and the fist collided with his shoulder. The pain was immense, and Jesper didn’t have time to redress himself before a hand grabbed hold of his neck and a fist collided with his face. This he couldn’t avoid. The world went black, but only for a second. <br/>It must have been the adrenaline that made Jesper regain consciousness so fast, but he was dizzy and confused. He couldn’t form a single coherent thought in his mind, but all his instincts told him to run, to get out, to not let himself be taken and given parem. He could feel his face swallowing where the fist had landed, and could feel blood trickling down his face. What could he do, what could he do... He was no match for his opponent, not physically, and he didn’t have enough training to be able to do anything with his powers… not fast enough, anyway. <br/>The attacker was still holding him by the neck, and suddenly he lifted him off his feet. Great. He was going to lose consciousness, be taken away, fail his friends, be enslaved and die a miserable death. Everything he had always wanted to avoid. And all of it because of what he was - what he was born as. <br/>But suddenly, as if through a miracle, he remembered the parem in his pocket. Yes, this could be his salvation! With the last bit of energy he had, he put his hand in his pocket, grabbed the pill and made a huge show of putting it in his mouth. The attacker’s eyes widened in surprise, and with his one free hand he grabbed Jesper’s jaw tightly and forced his mouth to open. While he was focusing on that, Jesper shoved the pill in his mouth, feeling his attacker’s teeth scratch his fingers as he retracted his hand from his mouth. The attacker let go of Jesper’s throat, but Jesper’s legs were so weak that his knees buckled as his feet touched the ground and he fell on the concrete floor. He looked up at his attacker, who seemed to regret his decision of letting Jesper go, and grabbed him again by his shoulders and gave him a violent shake. Fuck, his plan had failed. Maybe the guy wasn’t going to kidnap him after all, and just kill him on the spot. He looked angry enough to do so at least.<br/>The attacker gave him another shake, but Jesper realized that he wasn’t just shaking him, but the entire body of the attacker was shaking. The realization didn’t last long, as his attacker used his last bit of power to throw Jesper against the wall. His broken rib made contact with the wall again, and Jesper could not stop the agony and the animalic scream of pain that followed. He fell back on the floor and took in a very painful breath before looking at the man again, waiting for the next attack. But to his surprise, his attacker was on the floor, vomiting pink bile. It was a disturbing scene, but Jesper couldn’t take his eyes away from it. When he was done, his attacker just dropped on the floor and didn’t move again. “What. Was. That.” thought Jesper, and then his senses kicked back in as he realized how much time he had lost fighting this guy. Fuck, he was late! Inej must be waiting for him, wondering where he is. With all the strength he had left, Jesper used the wall to try to get back to his feet. It was painful, and every fiber of his being wanted him to lay down and drift into unconsciousness, but his team was depending on him, so he had to keep fighting. He was halfway up from the floor when he heard a voice yell his name, and looked up to see Inej running towards him. Startled by this, he lost his balance and fell back to the floor.</p><p>***</p><p>Inej had been filled with concern when Jesper was late to meet her. She knew it wasn’t unusual for Jesper to be late, but he would never do that on a mission - not on one with such a tight schedule and such high stakes anyway. Something was wrong. Jesper was in trouble. She could feel it. So she decided to stop waiting and started running down the hallway he was supposed to come out of. <br/>She wasn’t very far along when she heard a scream, and with dread realized it was Jesper who was screaming. The shooter had been in many bad situations before, but she had never heard such a sound come out of his mouth. “FUCK” thought Inej, as she hurried her step and sent a quick prayer for Jesper to her gods. <br/>When she turned the corner she almost stopped for a second at the scene in front of her. A huge man was on the floor, looking dead, surrounded by a pool of what looked like foamy pink vomit. Inej had never seen such a big man before. Jesper was also tall, but this guy made him look small. Jesper! That’s when she turned her gaze from the unknown man to Jesper, who was leaning against the wall and seemed to be struggling to get to his feet. He was hunched over, as if protecting his ribs, one side of his face was completely swollen, he had bruises around his jaw and neck, and his face was covered in blood. Inej also noticed that there was a fist-shaped dent in the wall close to where Jesper was leaning, and how she wished that wasn’t caused by the same fist that caused the bruises on Jesper’s face… but deep down she knew she was wrong.<br/>Inej yelled Jesper’s name, and was surprised to see the slowness in the shooter’s movements as he looked up to her, and then lost his balance and fell back on the floor. Jesper was always so elegant and in control of his movements, despite his lankiness, that it hurt Inej to see him like this. And it hurt her to think of much pain he must be in to act like this.<br/>She ran up next to him and started helping him get up.<br/>“Jesper, what happened here?” she asked, unable to keep the distress from her voice<br/>“Oh, you know” Jesper replied in an unusually husky voice “met my old friend from the market… exchanged some pleasantries”<br/>“Jesper, you look awful…” Inej said, as she looked into his eyes. He seemed to have a really hard time focusing on her. This was bad… really bad.<br/>“No time for chit-chat darling, we have a mission to accomplish” Jesper said, just as the bells started ringing. They both stopped for a second, the realization of how late they were dawning on them.<br/>“Fuck, we have to hurry!” Jesper said, as he started walking as fast as he could back towards the church. “Inej, that gun would come in handy now” he told her while he was willing himself to take his hands away from his broken ribs.<br/>“Jesper, you’ll never get into position in time” Inej said as she handed him the gun, worry plastered all over her face.<br/>“Maybe not. But maybe I’ll do the impossible” he said, as he aimed the gun at nothing and shot.</p>
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